The fierce Santa Ana winds driving the raging wildfires of Southern California for four days are forecast to weaken on Wednesday, giving exhausted firefighters better conditions for battling the 16 fires that have driven nearly a million people from their homes.

Crime has always been a worry for Americans venturing south of the Mexico border but never so much as now. Violence, killings and kidnappings have reached frightening new levels in Tijuana over the last 24 months, exposing the weaknesses of police and threatening the tourism and trade that underpin the economy on both sides of the border.

Mexican President Vicente Fox said he wants lawmakers to clarify language in a controversial bill that would drop criminal penalties for small amounts of drugs, but his office on Thursday denied that he did so under U.S. pressure.